Picture Album: 19
Sunday, December 13th, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in Novembe 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "Master of the Game"
6 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: Deborah Englehardt
Topic: my relationship with basketball
Deborah was a player in junior high, a spectator in college, and now,
a staff member of Joto Junior High School's boys & girls' basketball team.
summary:
My name is Deborah Englehardt and I am a 2nd-year ALT. I work at Joto Junior High School. For my session, I spoke about my relationship with basketball. As a child, I liked to play basketball with my friends and older sister. When I entered junior high school, I became a point guard for the school's junior varsity team. Shortly after, because of an injury I quit the team. I thought that was the last time I would ever sit on the court bench of a basketball team.
I graduated from Gonzaga University (located in Spokane, Washington) two years ago. During my time in Gonzaga, I became a fan of their basketball team. After graduating, I moved here to Akita City as an ALT. One day the basketball girls at Joto J.H.S. invited me to watch their pracitce. I started to watch their practice everyday after school and attend their basketball games. Now, I am a staff member of both the girls and boys' basketball teams. I feel very lucky to be part of both teams.
When I reflect on my life so far, I feel like there is some sort of invisible thread that connects me to basketball. I have met wonderful people and experienced many things because of my ties with basketball. I do not know what else the future holds for me and basketball, but right now, I am back on the court bench...
8 people attended in the afternoon.
Sunday, November 1st, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in October 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "Master of the Game"
3 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: Peter Legg
Topic: "The age, sex and race IQ debate"
Studies in IQ over the decades have been controversial, and not just for reasons of political correctness!
I'll be discussing some of the reasons for the debate and some of the interesting knowledge about
how the brain works that has arisen from the studies.
summary:
"For decades studies on differences in intelligence between genders and
between races have created controversy, not only for obvious issues of
political correctness, but also because the concepts of race and gender
and the ability to gather credible and meaningful data are not as straight
forward as one might think. The studies have however had spin-off effects
and led to breakthroughs in our understanding of IQ and intelligence and
the differences between them."
7 people attended in the afternoon.
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in September 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "Master of the Game"
7 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: David Ferron
Topic: A Summer Home with an American Icon: G.I. Joe
summary:
During my presentation I spoke about my trip back home to Kansas, America
and about G.I. Joe, a famous toy for boys. I bridged these two topics
by sharing my experiences attending a G.I. Joe convention
held this last summer in Kansas City.
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area has one of the largest populations
in the middle of America (about 2 million people).
I suppose to the general public, it is famous for barbecue, tornadoes and the "Wizard of Oz."
G.I. Joe has been a part of American culture since the 1960s,
every few years redefining itself for a changing world and a new market.
Recently, G.I. released a hollywood movie in August 2009
with plans for a sequel within the next couple years.
8 people attended in the afternoon.
Sunday, September 6th, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in August 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "Master of the Game"
5 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: Anders Lundberg
Topic: Imaginary and real historical background of supernatural evils
Zombies and vampires frequent our movie theatres and television sets,
but what is the origin of these denizens of the night and is there any
truth to the stories? I will try to shed some light on this, as well
as some other supernatural evils commonly featured in popular culture,
including witches and sorcerers such as found in Harry Potter.
Hope that sounds intriguing (and perhaps interesting to translate?)
The above is a message from Anders.
7 people attended in the afternoon.
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in July 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "Master of the Game"
4 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: Terri Nagahashi (Akita University)
Topic: my trip to Mongolia
Summary: This presentation focused on the speaker`s recent visit to Mongolia
as a guest of Mr. Ch. Naranbaatar, Chairman of the State Committee of Physical Culture
and Sports and Mr. Mamoru Sasaki, businessman, philanthropist, and Hokkaido soft tennis champion.
Ms. Nagahashi explained her relationship to the hosts and described the extraordinary week
that she spent as a participant in several national award ceremonies and as an advisor to Mr. Ch. Naranbaatar.
9 people attended in the afternoon.
Sunday, July 5th, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in June 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "Master of the Game"
4 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: Tim Ernst
Topic: ABBA- a deeper look at a success story
Tim says,
"ABBA is a Swedish pop music group formed in 1972. I found out some interesting insight into their success and failures along with some secrets i will share with you."
Tim talked to us on Sunday about his interest in the Swedish rock band sensation, ABBA, which was popular back in the 1970's and 80's , He told us about the four being individual successful recording artists before they teamed up in the early 19707s. He told us they were all under the management of Stig Andersen, a well known producer/ songwriter/ performer who collaborated on a lot of the early ABBA hit songs.
ABBA gained fame when they entered the Eurovision song festival in 1974 with their soon to be hit song, Waterloo, which helped launch their road to fame. From there, they produced an unbelievable string of a new hit song every 20 weeks for 5 years. Their records continue to sale even today making them the second most financially successful rock band behind the Beatles. Their songs and their image on stage were carefully crafted making them appealing to a wide range of marketable audiences.
But all was not as wonderful as it appeared. The constant stress of touring and recording began to take its toll on all of them. Their marriages to each other both ended in divorce strained also by personal problems amongst themselves. They continued recording after their divorces but never toured again.
With the success of the hit musical, Mamma Mia, ABBA's music is experiencing a comeback with an appeal to a whole new generation of fans. The group was offered one billion dollars to make a 100 performances tour but was collectively turned down by all the members. They want to be remembered as they were in peak years so that the music will forever stay young.
7 people attended in the afternoon.
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in May 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "Master of the Game"
6 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: Peter Legg
Topic: The current international economic crisis: Causes and indicators for the future of international politics
The discussion will cover the recession from an international perspective, why it seemed to largely originate in the United States, and why measures taken to deal with the economic problems on the international scene indicate a major change in world politics is taking place.
summary:
"Over the past decade, there have been growing imbalances in the world markets. While the United States and some other Western economies were running large deficits, oil exporting countries and emerging economies in the Asian region were accumulating large savings surpluses. Given that countries like China often struggle to re-invest their savings internally due to domestic under-development, the United States was seen as the best place to invest, which subsequently absorbed a large proportion of these savings.
Easy credit and vast pools of capital led to a bubble in the US real estate market. When business started to turn bad and capital became harder to come by, lenders such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together own about 50% of the US national home loan debt, lowered standards and backed riskier mortgages. As we can see, the results are still unfolding and have had large consequences internationally. The way in which this crisis is being handled, with the G20 taking a role for the first time, for example, is one of many indicators over the past decade that major changes are taking place in international politics."
9 people attended in the afternoon.
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in April 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "Master of the Game"
3 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: Wayne Malcolm
Topic: A Paradigm Shift - Rediscovering Thinking
"My topic for the discussion/translation will be an essay I am going to write called "A Paradigm Shift - Rediscovering Thinking." A bit of philosophy and pragmatics touching on various current topics, and how we need to approach our train of thought, and train of livelihood."
Summary:
"It is nothing short of amazing how well these people can translate/interpret information. This session's lecture was less of a lecture and more of a discussion. Beginning with the start of his new essay, "Paradigm Shift: Rethinking Thinking," guest speaker Wayne Malcolm, shared it with the group. He said, "It's in the infancy stages."
Once Mr. Malcolm read the essay, which took about 45 minutes to an hour, the session turned into a discussion, which Mr. Malcolm moderated. If the essay wasn't difficult to translate/interpret, think about going from Japanese to English, and back to Japanese when interpreting /translating. The group did just that. They made a comment about a question Mr. Malcolm asked the gorup. This question was translated from Japanese to English. A group member would make a comment. This was spoken in Japanese, and then traslated into English. It was an extraordinary session.
The essay that sparked this unique exploration centered around philosophical thought regarding how we, as a species, have lost our way, and forgotten how to "think." It talks about Socrates, mentions Mozart, looks at the global financial crisis, etc. This was not a light session.
By the end of the session everyone in the group had thoroughly engaged the discussion that took place. It was a very satisfying afternoon."
7 people attended in the afternoon.
Sunday, April 5th, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in March 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "Master of the Game"
4 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: Phylicia Bishop
Topic: some of the culture of my hometown Portland
Here is her message:
I'll discuss some of the culture of my hometown Portland (located in Oregon on the US West Coast). I would especially like to touch on cultural points that are unique to Portland and unlike what one is exposed to when living in Japan. I’ll also provide some visuals.
I’ll start out with some basic information on Portland, and then cover some highlights, such as the following:
Portland icons such as Powell’s Books (world’s largest independent new and used book store); Beer; Coffee culture; Eco-friendliness; Keep Portland Weird E Evarious quirky features of Portland; Events; VooDoo Donuts shop; etc.
Alternative culture: D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself), zine culture; Political activism; Bike culture; Art culture etc.
7 people attended in the afternoon.
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in February 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "The Chase", which ended this morning.
5 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: Steve (Stephen) Shucart (Akita Prefectural University)
Topic: Vietnam - Wetter than the Usual Vacation
"I'll talk about my Winter vacation in Vietnam. It was much colder and wetter than we expected, but we still had fun and visited several World Heritage sites. My talk will include The Old Quarter of Hanoi, and a day trip to the Perfume Pagoda, Sailing on Halong Bay, Hue, the Old Capital; Hoi An - A World Heritage Site; The Beaches of Nha Trang; and Dalat - A French Colonial Hill Station. I'll illustrate my talk with a slideshow, several antiques, and some gemological specimens."
7 people attended in the morning.
Sunday, February 8th, 2009
Morning session:
1) current English words often used in January 2009
2) shadowing: Learning Revolution
3) translation from Japanese to English using a movie "Casablanca"
4) translation from English to Japanese "The Chase"
5 people attended in the morning.
Afternoon session:
Guest Speaker: Alex Miner
Topic: the American education system
My presentation for AIS was about education in America. It had five sections. I will quickly describe each section.
The first section was about the different levels of education. In public schools, the first level is kindergarten and the last level is 12th grade. The kinds of schools that same-level students attend aren't always the same in each state and city. For example, some cities have "middle schools." These schools are for students between elementary school and junior high school. Other cities don't have middle schools.
The next section was about assessment. Tests and homework in the U.S. are often ranked from "F," which is failing, to "A," which is excellent. American high schools and universities often use a "grade point average" (GPA) system too. A "4.0" is the best score and a "0.0" is the worst. Students do not usually take tests to enter high schools in the U.S., but they do take tests to enter universities. A student's test scores and GPA are both important when he or she wants to enter a university.
Funding was the next section of my presentation. In the U.S., property taxes are the main source of money for schools. This means poor neighborhoods have poor schools and rich neighborhoods have rich schools. This is a major problem in my country because some schools are much better than others.
I then talked about the kinds of classes in public schools. In elementary schools, these classes are very general: English, social studies, science, math, etc. In high school, the classes become more specific and many are electives: history, humanities, chemistry, trigonometry, foreign language (usually Spanish and French), etc. English is the only required class every year of a student's education.
The last topic was English education in U.S. schools. In elementary schools, students study spelling, vocabulary, phonics, grammar, reading, and writing. In middle schools and junior high schools, students focus on grammar and writing. In high schools, students study literature and write essays about the literature. In the first year of university-level education, students often write argument essays. Finally, students may study literature again in upper-level university English courses.
8 people attended in the afternoon.
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